Glückwunsch an Bayer Leverkusen

LGFOX

LGFOX

Roofer
Won their very first Bundesliga/top tier title in their history on Sunday. Won it with 5 games to go. Absolutely brilliant. Bayern, champions for the last 11 seasons were nowhere even though they added a £100m striker to their ranks.
They’ve been known as Neverkusen for a long time especially after the terrible ending to the 2001/2 season where they finished runners up in the Bundesliga, Pokal ( Fa Cup) and CL. The Eiskönige of German football. I’m sure Dags and Swabianfox know more than me but what a great story.
No doubt in years to come they’ll be remembered for their lucky title win mainly because Bayern added a serial loser to their squad.
They’ll probably win the double as they’re playing a level 2 side and could easily go on to complete the treble by winning the Europa League. Fantastisch
 
Quite an amazing story indeed! It is, as you said, the tag of Neverkusen (or Vizekusen, as they are called in Germany) from the 2001/02 season when they were on course for three titles and won - none!

This season, they are outshining everybody, Bayern Munich included! Leverkusen are still on course for a Bundesliga record. They have drawn only four league games so far and lost none (W25 D4 L0). If they win their remaining five games they'll end up with 94 points! The previous record is held by Bayern Munich (91 points in 2012/13), so Leverkusen can even afford to draw two games and still win the record*!

Their outstanding season even masks the fact that Bayern, despite their obvious problems, aren't actually playing that badly. They are still on course for 74 points which is three more than last season (when they won the title by a whisker on the last day with 71 points) or the 70 points with which they won the title in 2010. Certainly substandard but their league form is not as poor as Leverkusen are making it look by beating everybody.

I think it's good for the Bundesliga that a different team is winning the title for a change. The fact that it's done in such a convincing fashion may point to more success for Leverkusen in the future as long as they keep hold of everybody. Their current manager Xabi Alonso has already pledged to stay on for another year so things are looking good on that front!

We'll see where Bayern is headed. I'm a bit surprised that Tuchel is actually failing there (it's not just the Bundesliga they're surrendering but they've limped out of the German Cup, too, and we'll find out shortly whether they can go anywhere in the ECL). Tuchel has had success literally everywhere he went so this points to me there is more wrong at Bayern than immediately obvious. They're currently in a transitional phase and very unstable at board level, following the retirement of Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who ran the club for a long time, and their immediate successors being sacked one year ago. We'll see if Bayern come back or if they face a prolonged period of instability. It seems they are struggling already to find a new manager: Xabi Alonso pledged his future to Leverkusen quickly, and so did Sebastian Hoeneß to VfB Stuttgart who he is managing very successfully at the moment.

*Edited to say that I was wrong here: they can only afford to draw one more game (i.e. drop two points) to set a new record. If they lose one of their remaining games (i.e. drop three points) it'll be a joint best. Either way, they're having a fantastic season.
 
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swabianfox said:
Quite an amazing story indeed! It is, as you said, the tag of Neverkusen (or Vizekusen, as they are called in Germany) from the 2001/02 season when they were on course for three titles and won - none!

This season, they are outshining everybody, Bayern Munich included! Leverkusen are still on course for a Bundesliga record. They have drawn only four league games so far and lost none (W25 D4 L0). If they win their remaining five games they'll end up with 94 points! The previous record is held by Bayern Munich (91 points in 2012/13), so Leverkusen can even afford to draw two games and still win the record!

Their outstanding season even masks the fact that Bayern, despite their obvious problems, aren't actually playing that badly. They are still on course for 74 points which is three more than last season (when they won the title by a whisker on the last day with 71 points) or the 70 points with which they won the title in 2010. Certainly substandard but their league form is not as poor as Leverkusen are is making it look by beating everybody.

I think it's good for the Bundesliga that a different team is winning the title for a change. The fact that it's done in such a convincing way may point to more success for Leverkusen in the future as long as they keep hold of everybody. Their current manager Xabi Alonso has already pledged to stay on for another year so things are looking good on that front!

We'll see where Bayern is headed. I'm a bit surprised that Tuchel is actually failing there (it's not just the Bundesliga they're surrendering but they've limped out of the German Cup, too, and we'll find out shortly whether they can go anywhere in the ECL). Tuchel has had success literally everywhere he went so this points to me there are more things wrong at Bayern that is obvious. They're currently in a transitional phase and very unstable at board level, following the retirement of Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who ran the club for a long time, and their immediate successors being sacked one year ago. We'll see if Bayern come back or if they face a prolonged period of instability. It seems they are struggling already to find a new manager: Xabi Alonso pledged his future to Leverkusen quickly, and so did Sebastian Hoeneß who is managing VfB Stuttgart at the moment very successfully.
Click to expand...

Wow that’s something I didn’t know. So Sebastian Hoeness is Dieters son and obviously the nephew of Uli. To those ( Oldfox etc) that don’t know, both Uli and Dieter are German greats both representing their country in the WC in 74 and 86 respectively, Uli winning and Dieter losing.
What’s also interesting is both Uli and Dieter are both Bayern Munchen legends yet their son/nephew manages a great geographical rival in VFB Stuttgart who are having a stellar season after a few years in the doldrums even going down to Bundesliga 2 twice in the last few years.

Anyway as Swabianfox says Bayern are having an awful season probably due to buying that serial loser Herr Kane
 
I suppose it is most probably the Kane Kurse that is befalling Bayern...

Uli and Dieter Hoeneß are indeed old time greats. Dieter played for both Stuttgart and Bayern Munich. In fact, when I was ten years old or so and lived in Stuttgart around 78/79, he did not live far away and me and friends sometimes spotted him walking his dog.

Dieter later had long periods as DoF / General Manager at various German clubs, Stuttgart and Hertha Berlin being the most successful ones. Uli is the more well-known of the two brothers though, with him literally being the face and (loud) voice (!!) of Bayern's successes since around 1980.

Sebastian Hoeneß is now following the family tradition, so to speak. Almost out of the blue, Stuttgart is having a tremendous season with CL football almost secured for next season!

Anyway, back to Leverkusen: there were rumours that Xabi Alonso was to succeed Klopp at Liverpool. He has probably made a good choice in staying on, as Klopp is a very tough act to follow, and Bayern seems at least in difficulties.
 
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